Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I better post this up before October is over! Time passes so quickly when you are so busy right? Work load at my day job has been mad this month!

Momo and I joined the Makansutra Forumers for dinner earlier this month. October's restaurant pick was Golden Spoon at Tiong Bahru. We are so glad we could make it this month. It's not about food at the Makansutra Forumers Monthly makan, but about meeting other foodie folks and chatting and learning new things from each other. We were glad that we were seated with Camemberu, someone whom we are familiar with.

This month we were seated with wine connoisseurs. For the previous makan sessions we noticed that the bottles of wine had aluminum foils covering it. The naive us thought it was to keep the wine cool. We found out that yes, it does keep the wine cool, but the real purpose is for the wine guessing game they have! They pour wine on each other's glasses and they start guessing. They start by guessing if it's Old World or New World. Next whether it's a blend or it's straight. They can even guess the vineyard and the year!

The three of us, Camemberu, Momo and I are not drinkers, but it was really fun and educational! For each dish that came out, they paired them with the wines! Somehow, they people who brought the different wines knew when to bring out their wines when they see the dish that was served.

(Hmmm I am thinking what if I was a sommelier. haha)

The dishes looks very wedding dinner like. But you get to taste great food without needing to give a $100 ang pow! Everyone pays $40 nett for the food. (The organisers do it for fun and don't make a profit out of this. So we really respect them!)

The first dish. The Cold Platter with 5 varieties. They are delicious. The Pig Trotter Aspic was something you don't usually get.

Next was the Sharksfin Soup with Scallop & Crab Meat. Sorry shark lovers, we wont purposely order sharksfin, but when it's served, we eat them.

The chef might be a little heavy handed on the salt. It was salty. (or maybe we have sensitive tongues).

Then came the Eight Treasures Vegetarian Dish. Treasures are outside and also hidden inside the beancurd skin. I like it. I think it's because the veggies I like are served here. ;-)

The next dish served was the Steamed Live Patin Fish. I saw the Chye Por and there was a smile on my face. Anything with Chye Por equates to delicious food to me! haha. The Patin fish we heard was kept alive in clear water to clear them of muddy taste normally tasted in fresh water fish. No wonder if was nice.

Roast Chicken Cantonese Style was next. It looks so so simple. Plain old roast chicken, but when it's not overcooked and done just nice, it's still juicy. With the sauce they poured over the chicken, it was so good. I think it was red fermented beancurd sauce which I think was mixed with some hoisin sauce. Nice!

Braised Pork Ribs Traditional Style. No need to say much. Tender, fragrant and delicious. It was gone in a blink of the eye!

Panfried Black Pepper Beef.
The beef was so tender. Quick high heat searing with nicely marinated tender beef. I am sure you will like it too. The red stuff you see are not capsicum but cut large chillies without the seeds. (I like that! haha)

Glutinous Rice with Ham in Lotus Leaf.
The carbo dish. You know some dishes are really fragrant, looks pretty but when you eat it, your expectations are not met. They could have run out of sodium after using so much of it for the above dishes?

(But when you eat it with the Ham it was ok lah...)

The last and final dish was the Double-boiled Hashima with Pear & Red Dates. Expensive stuff here! It was a nice sweet ending to the night.

If you would like to join the rest of us for our monthly dinners, hop on to the Makansutra Forums and register for dinner. November's menu is out and you can check your diary to see if you can make it.